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Sunday, July 23, 2017

Shootout Near Lakefront Golf Course Stuns Duffers: "There was definitely a handgun and a shotgun and they fired back and forth," Cop Says

Sunday's shooting took place here, at the east end of the Sydney Marovitz Golf Course parking lot. | Google

A gang-related shootout on the lakefront left Lakeview golfers stunned, but nobody injured Sunday morning at the Sydney Marovitz Golf Course parking lot, according to witness reports and police sources.

No one is in custody.

Gunfire between rival gang members erupted around 8:10 a.m. apparently after one man approached another and asked for his affiliation.

Multiple witnesses reported that one man fired a shotgun and the other fired a handgun in the conflict which unfolded at the east end of the parking lot. Shell casings were recovered at the scene.

A policeman on scene stated that “there was definitely a handgun and a shotgun and they fired back and forth.”

Rival gang tags mark the lakefront wall just steps from this morning's shooting scene. Photo from June 2017.

The gunmen each got into separate vehicles and fled moments before cops arrived.

A witness described the handgun-bearing man as Hispanic, 24-26 years old, 5’5” tall, and 220-230 pounds. He was wearing a white t-shirt and fled in a dark 4-door Accura driven by a Hispanic woman. It was last seen entering Lake Shore Drive northbound.

The other suspect, described only as a Hispanic man, fled in a black four-door BMW 3-series that was driven by a Hispanic woman, another witness reported.

About 30 minutes after the gunfire, golfers summoned police to the course after seeing two men who were in the area of the shooting ducking in and out of brush along Marovitz’s east fence line.

A carload of men was stopped nearby, but the city’s link to a national crime database was offline, and officers could not verify the occupants’ identities, gang affiliations, or warrant information, according to an officer.

“If that’s not officer safety issue, I don’t know what is,” one said.

More gang tags at the lakefront near today's incident. The photo was taken earlier this month.

Witnesses to the shooting refused to help cops determine if any of the car’s passengers were involved in the gun incident and officers were forced to set the carload of men free.

CWBChicago later verified through a source that at least one occupant of the car is a 17-year-old member of the La Raza street gang.

The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for information about this morning's incident.